A second Chance
by BoqBeak
Summary: Sweeney Todd awakens to find that he has a second chance.
1. Chapter 1

It was all over. Now, once again, my life had no purpose. Only this time, I had brought it upon myself. I saw my Lucy, and despair filled my heart, for I know I shall never see her again.

"The wheel has come a full circle." I took out the razor, and I was disgusted and hopeless by my fit of vengeance.

"This blade has sliced through flesh of my flesh, stained my hands with blood as dear to me as that which is my own."

I hurled the razor away and knelt beside her, cradling her in my arms. A door opened distantly. I heard Tobias sing "simple simon" quietly to himself as he approached.

"The boy. Oh, now I do repent, and I will set him free."

I called for him. "Tobias! Come here to be. Don't be afraid."

Tobias emerged from the cellar, singing in an eerie voice. His hair had turned completely white. He was quite mad.

"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker man.

Bake me a cake -

No,no,?

Bake me a pie -

To delight my eye,

And I will sigh

If the crust be high ..."

Tobias saw me. "Mr. Todd."

I spoke to him. "Tobias, you are free. I'll not stop you."

Tobias noticed Lucy. "It's the old woman. Ya harmed her too, have ya? Ya shouldn't, ya know. Ya shouldn't harm nobody." Tobias came closer to her. "Ah! I gave her a ha'penny and she told me they weren't tasty." He laughed, and sang.

"Sing a song a ha'penny,

A pocket full of rye,

Four-and-twenty dead men

Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened

The men began to sing-

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before a boy who never did no-one no harm in all his life."

This boy, oh, he could be saved, somehow, couldn't he? Why won't he leave? I wish I could start again, so this innocence could not be broken so soon, too soon, so wrong, so lost, and so, he must be saved.

I gently replied, "Tobias, you are free."

I looked back to my Lucy. I temporarily forgot that he was there. I would gladly die now, if I can't have her back, but I would more gladly die if I could have her back. I wish we could start again most of all, and we could start again.

Tobias bent to examine the body. I had forgotten him so quickly.

He then said, "Not tasty! Not tasty! Not tasty! Not tasty!"

Tobias then tried to grab her, he ran for her. I, suddenly aware of him, pushed him violently aside. "Leave her in peace. You shall not harm her, no!" I didn't care to hear. I cradled her in my arms again. My Lucy was gone. As Tobias staggered back and recovered his balance, he noticed the razor on the floor, picked it up, examined it, and played with it.

"Razor! Razor! Cut, cut, cut cadougan, watch me grind my corn."

He started to cut at me. I knew what was bound to happen. But I had no desire to fight it. But I wish that he could leave. Send the authorities after me, have them punish me, but this boy, this boy. I couldn't leave Lucy, though. I embraced my Lucy one last time.

"Pat him and prick him and mark him with B, and put him in the oven for baby and me!" Then I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I fell across the body of Lucy. I think I could hear a factory whistle blow. I could hear the sound of people approaching.

"No, no!"

Tobias ran off. Anthony, Johanna and officers of the guard came running on.

Johanna said to the guards, "The scream came from below. This should be the place."

The officers searched the cellars. Seeing the carnage, they all stopped.

Anthony saw me. "Oh, my friend! Who has done this?"

I reached out my hand. "Anthony, forget all of this. I give you and my daughter my blessing, or whatever of a blessing I may have to offer."

Anthony and Johanna's eyes were filled with tears.

I reached for Lucy's hand with my last ounce of strength.

"Johanna, your mother loved you. I loved you too. But I wished the world away, giving up only my hope to get it back. Forgive me, Anthony."

Anthony's eyes were filled with tears. "There's nothing to forgive."

"Farewell, Anthony."

Johanna's eyes were filled with tears too. Anthony continued, "Mr. Todd, before we part-"

"What is it?"

He paused for a bit. Then, he asked me, "Who are you?"

I turned to Johanna. "The judge Turpin never told you what happened to your father."

Johanna replied, "I was told that he was transported, and never returned."

"No. I am your father."

Johanna and Anthony knelt by me.

Johanna, your name is not Johanna Oakley. Your name is Johanna Barker."

Anthony wrapped something from his sleeve around my neck, and Anthony and Johanna got me to my knees.

"Johanna this is your mother. Lucy."

We heard a clash. I told them. " My name is Benjamin Barker."

A officer said, "And here's another. Why it's- judge Turpin!"

Johanna nodded. They looked over at me. "Johanna, I..."

I swooned, almost fainting. Anthony ran to catch my shoulder.

Another clashing noise. Tobias ran back in. Tobias signaled to the guards. "Keep off! They're mine, mine!"

The guard faced him. "What are?"

"The pies, the pies! They're mine!"

The guard stepped forward. "I'll not steal them."

Tobias looked at him. "No! No, for what I have to tell will, I fear, quite spoil your appetite. Mrs. Lovett's pies are made from human flesh." He took a hand from the floor. "Look!" Tobias said, laughing, and started to eat it. I yelled. "Toby!" Everyone turned to me. Toby walked over too me. "Toby..." I reached for him. He pulled the bandage away from my neck. I grabbed at my neck. I grabbed my neck. I felt the pain a little less now.

Anthony turned, "The boy's mad."

The guard replied, "And dangerous, too." The guard beckoned Tobias, "Boy come with us."

Tobias said to the guard, "You will pardon me, gentlemen, but you may not enter here. Oh no! Me mistress don't let no one enter here, for, you see, sirs, there's work to be done, so much work. No, I have work to do. I must mince the meat. " Tobias indicated me and Lucy.

They approached him. While they watch in horror, he moved to the grinding machine and slowly started to turn the handle. "Three times. That's the secret. Three times through for them to be tender and juicy. Three times through the grinder. Smoothly, smoothly ..."

Anthony told the guards, "Take him away!"

The guard replied, "We will, sir. And question him to find the truth."

Johanna gives a little cry. Anthony threw his arm around her. As the group stands watching, still in silence, Tobias continued to grind. Suddenly, the trap door slapped shut; the light brightened abruptly, Tobias stepped back, and looked up. . .

I fell to my knees.

"Anthony. Johanna. Tobias. Come to me."

They came over. I went back and carried Lucy over, cradling her in my arms.

"Lucy, Lucy. Let her have a proper burial, please. The judge is dead, nothing stands between the two of you. Johanna... and you are beautiful and pale, with yellow hair, like her. Good bye, Johanna."

She said, "You're gone, and yet you're mine."

I replied, "I'm fine, Johanna, I'm fine... We learn to say... Goodbye."

"Goodbye, my dad."

I said, "Marry each other, go aboard the ship, and leave this all, far behind you. Let the boy go, they were not his victims. Just take care of my beautiful Lucy. You must understand. There was a barber and his wife,

And she was beautiful.

A foolish barber and his wife.

She was his reason and his life,

And she was beautiful.

And she was virtuous.

And he was...

Naive.

Water erupted from my lungs. I was soaked. Everything faded away... I had one last look. Anthony, and another face about the same age. Toby shot them a long, lost, look. He stepped back. Anthony walked over to me. I looked at his face, holding close to me my Johanna. Everything went dark, fading away. Rippling shades of purple and green floated across my eyes. I opened my eyes. I was lying on the wooden deck of a boat, the bright sky above me. Someone had their hands on my shoulders. I looked into the eyes of Anthony Hope. "He's alive!" He said, "I thought he had drowned. Are you feeling okay sir?" This was so bizarre. Was I Dorothy Gale or Ebenezer Scrooge? I knew now what I must do. My what I have gone through, and he was there. He continued "My name is Anthony..." I interrupted him, "My, Anthony, there's no place like London!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Anthony, it's great to be back here."

"Why's that, Mr. Todd?"

I paused for a moment... "I don't know!" I giddily said with a bounce and a click of his feet.

Anthony Hope gave a slight chuckle, which he tried to disguise by pretending to cough.

I straightened up. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Okay, okay."

We walked on. A lamplighter went by, and then a young couple. Where was she? She should be appearing any moment.

Maybe we were going the wrong way.

Just as we were about to turn around, she suddenly appeared.

I suddenly felt a surge of joy. Some of the color that I lost after 15 years at Botany bay was coming back to my face. What interested me the most, is that she didn't seem as ragged as she was in my dream, in fact, she was much easier to recognize.

She approached Anthony, holding a bowl to him, "Alms!... Alms!... For a mis'rable woman. On a mis'rable chilly morning." Anthony expectedly dropped a coin in her bowl. Anthony said, "Here, go in peace."

I held my hand out in front of Anthony. "Stand back". I half expected her to come after him, softly, leering in that mad way that I had seen. But it never came.

Instead, she replied, "God bless you!", and proceeded to turn to me. This time, I did not try to keep his back to her.

"Alms!... Alms!... For a pitiful woman, wot's got wanderin' wits..."

"I'm sorry, but I have no money." I spoke the truth. All I had was something that she had given me before I got shipped away, which I may not show her until we have left London. "Hey, don't I know you mister?" She peered intently at me. "Your-face!" She tried to move around me. "There's something I..." I was thinking about what I would do at this point, but I just wasn't quite sure how I could reveal myself without blowing my cover. I was still near that same street by the London docks. Yet of course, any passerby passing by, seeing a slightly heavy-set, saturnine man in his forties would probably say that he mixed in with any blacksmith or dockhand. I couldn't talk to her with this boy with a little duffle bag over his head. I then got an idea. Maybe if we talked back closer to the docks, then maybe no one else would hear us but themselves, and I'd probably mix right in with the other crew members, unloading their luggage...

"Pardon me, could you wait a moment, I just want to talk to anthony for a moment. I took Anthony aside.

"Anthony, what do you need to ask me?"

"Okay, Mr. Todd, well I was just wondering, It's just, um, I have honored my promise I made you at the start of the journey never to question you. Whatever brought you to that sorry shipwreck is your affair. But now my curiosity overwhelms me. Why did you hide your face? What can frighten you in a poor beggar beggar woman like that?"

"Like her?"

"Yes, like her. What?"

I abstractedly replied, "I thought it impossible that anyone should recognize me."

Anthony replied, a little bewildered, "Pardon me, sir, but there's no need to fear the likes of her. She did not. She was only a half-crazed beggar woman. London's full of them. But why should you fear if she did?"

"I owe my life to you, Anthony. Without you and your good ship I would be long dead, so perhaps I owe it to you to tell the truth. I, too, have sailed across the world, but I have seen no wonders – unless the angry noonday sun, shriveling a man's shadow to a smudge beneath his feet, be a wonder. Or the greed and cruelty that forces a man to fight his own brother to the death for a crust of bread. Such "wonders" as these I have seen – and worse that I will not relate, for you could not believe it. When you found me clinging to my makeshift raft, half mad with thirst, you found a man devoid of hope – an escaped prisoner whose desperation made him dare his captors and the element to seek his freedom in the jaws of certain death."

"What was your crime?"

"My wife was beautiful."

"Why, if that be a crime..."

"A heinous town you call home. For here there are men who cannot look on beauty, and not defile it: who scratch at virtue's shining face with fumbling hands till they have made it as ugly as their own."

I must calm myself down. I continued.

"Two such men there were- two upright men- a beadle and a judge, who tried with every flattery to win my wife to their desires. But she, bright angel, would have none of them. So, I was falsely I was charged with petty theft, arrested- by the beadle, and brought to court before the same judge, who sentenced to transportation for life, hoping in my absence that my good wife would fall."

Anthony replied, "And the lady, sir — did she — succumb?"

I replied, "No!" helplessly, knowing that she was here now, but I realized that even this, I may not have a second chance. I pray this may not be so. There may still be a chance. I continued, still helpless, "Oh, that was many years ago ... I don't know.

That's what I must find out. Now. My barber's shop was on the upper story, but you see- a barber's shop no more. Here, below, lives Mrs. Lovett. I hope she will have news for me. And also alone. Now, leave me, Anthony, I beg of you."

Anthony replied, "I will. But surely we will meet again before I'm off to Plymouth! Shall we meet tomorrow?

I replied, "If you want, you may well find me. Around Fleet Street, I wouldn't wonder. Yes. And I'll be at St. Dunstan's market place. At noon."

Anthony replied, "Well, until then, Mr. Todd."

Anthony turned to leave, and then turned back, asking, "Mr. Todd?"

"Anthony, could me and her just have one moment to talk?"

"But..."

"Please." I asked intently. He agreed.

"I'll be waiting, over here. If you want me to come over at any time at all, if you call, or if I hear a racket... I'll come."

"Okay, I get it." I said, not impatiently, but calm.

"Okay..."

"Farewell, my friend. A wife and daughter left behind in peril. What may have happened? The answer lies ahead. Yet I must not be known to anyone I cannot trust. Well. I have no choice. My fate awaits me."

Immediately I took her by the hand and turned a corner to be out of Anthony's sight.

But the next person I found running through the streets, I found very unsettling.

"Okay, so, you see, I..., you see, fifteen years, I..."

I gazed over her shoulder. Why must I now encounter more familiar faces, right now? She would just have to wait.


	3. Chapter 3

I looked back. I looked ahead of me. I looked back. I looked ahead. I started to run. I didn't know where my feet were taking me. I just ran. I tripped. My head hit a rock. Everything faded out in another shade of green and purple. I think I was unconscious. But I couldn't have been unconscious. I was so aware of everything around me. I didn't have a pain in my head. But I felt a sting in my neck. I remembered Tobias.

"This is your last chance..." the voice echoed all around me.

This was all too strange to argue with. I just remained silent. I was probably unconscious anyway.

When I came to, Lucy was kneeling over my head. She had laid me down on the side of the street, in an abandoned shop, holding her hand to where I had hit my head.

"Lucy?"

"Yes?"

I started to get up. I still felt a little lightheaded. I noticed that there was not much light coming into the shop from the windows, but a strange amount coming between each board of wood. I heard a rustling at the door. I saw dust fly, and more light coming from the door. I faced back to Lucy. "Get back behind the counter." I got her back, and leaned against the counter, both to help hide her, and to help me recover. And finally, the door fell down. The light was blinding, to me, and to Lucy.

A figure appeared through the glare of morning through the door. Could it be the judge? If it was, all that I've been through was all a waste.

The figure stepped forward, and I discovered, as my eyes adjusted, that it was an old woman. What a relief. There's no way that this could be the judge.

"What are you doing in there?"

"Hi, madam."

She stepped forward again. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you..."

I interrupted her. "Which way to the best pie shop in town, madam?" I smiled.

"Just walk two blocks down, and take a left." She smiled back and tilted her head.

"Thank you, madam."

"Anytime. Mrs. Mooney at your service."

"Pardon, madam?"

Just then, the door which she had propped up fell down again, revealing the judge.

"What are you doing in there? Get out now. Get out!"

Mrs. Mooney left immediately. The judge walked uncomfortably close to me, with his nose in my face.

"Who are you?"

I remained silent.

"Who are you?"

"Mr. Sweeney, Todd, sir."

He observed me closely. I couldn't move. He had me backed against the counter.

Then his eyes grew wide. He raised up his hand.

A smashing glass shattered against the window frame. He turned around quickly. I broke free and turned around, to see Lucy retreating towards the back exit. The judge turned around again.

"You!"

He ran towards her, limping in the most particular fashion.

Then, Anthony ran through. We all stopped.

"Sweeney Todd. I'm sorry I couldn't find you earlier. You won't believe what I've just found. It's strange that I should travel all the world, only to find its greatest treasure here at home."

Mrs. Lovett walked in through the door. She stopped to watch.

"I have found the most fair and loving maid that any man could ever dream of!"

Judge Turpin raised his eyebrows.

"As I came upon the facade of a huge mansion, I heard the thrilling amd twittering of songbirds. There was a bird seller carrying a bizzare construction of little wicker birdcages tied together. It was in those that the birds were singing. As I was walking along, deep in thought, something made me stop and look up – and there above, just in the casement of her window, I saw a lady of so pure and true a countenance I could not pass the place while she stood there. There, at an upper level of the mansion appeared a very young, exquisitely beautiful girl with a long mane of shining blonde hair. The sight of her seemed to – stop my breath. I stood and gazed in such rapturous admiration that the passers-by avoided me as if I was struck mad. Just as she seemed about to leave her window, she glanced down, and her eyes met mine. I bought her a bird to get her down. She came. Our fingers touched. I felt something fall into my hand. We were so absorbed with each other that we did not see the approach of a beadle. She ran into the house, forgetting the birdcage. I turned and found the beadle staring at me. He pushed me down the stairs. He then boarded up her window. It was probably due to her tyrannical guardian that she told me about, so that she can be shut away from the human eye. But she had left me her key."

He held up the key.

"The surest sign that Johanna loves me and..."

All but I shouted "Johanna?"

Tension rose into the air fast. But all was interrupted by the sound of a caravan crashing through the streets of London. After it passed, Anthony ran out the door, along with the judge, and I headed off for Fleet Street, accompanied by Lucy and Mrs. Lovett.

I would need my razors.


	4. Chapter 4

The three of us saw Mrs. Lovett's pie-shop. Above it is my empty apartment which was reached by an outside staircase. Mrs. Lovett, I observed in the sunlight, was a vigorous, slatternly woman in her forties. As soon as she entered, she went to flicking flies off the trays of pies with a dirty rag as she sang and hummed. I crossed from the end of the street and moved slowly toward the pie-shop, looking around, remembering. Seeing the pie-shop, I paused a moment at some distance, gazing at it and at , who picked up a wicked-looking knife and started chopping suet. After a beat, I moved toward the shop, hesitating and then entering.

"Well, are you going to buy a pie or not?"

I has started out in alarm.

"Wait! What's yer rush? What's yer hurry?"

She stuck the knife into the counter.

"You gave me such a -"

She wiped her hands on her apron.

"Fright. I thought you was a ghost.

Half a minute, can'tcher?

Sit! Sit ye down!"

She forced me into a chair. She left lucy standing.

"Sit!

All I meant is that I

Haven't seen a customer for weeks.

Did you come here for a pie, sir?"

I nodded. She flicked a bit of dust off a pie with her rag.

"Do forgive me if me head's a little vague -

Ugh!"

She plucked something off a pie, and held it up.

"What is that?

But you'd think we had the plague -"

She dropped it on the floor and stamped on it.

"From the way that people -"

She flicked something off a pie with her finger.

"Keep avoiding -"

Spotting it moving,

"No you don't!"

She smacked it with her hand.

"Heaven knows I try, sir!"

She lifted her hand, and looked at it.

"Ick!"

She wiped it on the edge of the counter.

"But there's no one comes in even to inhale -

Tsk!"

She blew the last dust off the pie as she brought it to me.

"Right you are, sir. Would you like a drop of ale?

I nodded. Wow, people are so predictable.

"Mind you, I can't hardly blame them."

She poured me a tankard of ale.

"Pardon me, Mrs. Lovett. But there's a huge caravan with an idiot and his adolescent simple-minded assistant outside of St. Dunstan's Marketplace, that might ruin my future business. Could you please hurry up?"

"Fine. Anyway, there's no denying these are the most tasteless pies in London. Sir, I speaks as finds, I do. And what I'm telling you is the plain and simple truth. Mind you, they do say necessity's the mother of invention."

I took a bite. She put the ale in front of me. Mrs. Lovett slammed lumps of dough on the counter and rolled them out, grunting frequently as she went.

"The other day, Tuesday it was, I was walking down Cheapside, and I saw a crowd of people looking in a pie shop window. Well, I thought, I'd better have a look an' all. And there in the window, pretty as a picture, was a roasted cat all garnished round with little mice tied up to look like sausages. Beautiful it was."

As I gamely tried another mouthful, she continued. "But how am I to catch mice, with me legs like what they are? Not to mention me wind. Oh times is very hard."

Mrs. Lovett finished one of the crusts with a flourish, then noticed me having difficulty with my pie.

"Spit it out, dear. Go on. On the floor. There's worse things than that down there." As I did, she patted my back, she said "That's my boy."

I thought. How am I going to get to her. I thought. Then I remembered. In my dream, there was singing.

Lucy started.

"Do you have a bathroom in here?"

"In the back."

"Thanks."

"Mrs. Lovett?"

"Yes?"

"Listen. I've got no money. You can guess how much I've been through. I need something. Something that can help me set up my business..."

"Oh, you poor thing!"

She gave ran up and brought back the razor box.

I stand now, looking into the box. I pick up a small razor. I must contain myself. The madness seemed to close in around me. I held the razor to my ear, feeling the edge with my thumb. I quickly drew it away. , who has been looking over my shoulder, starts to feel his other ear lightly, absently, in her own trance. I lay the razor back in the box and pick out a larger one.

I spoke.

"I must find a way out of here. I must. But how? I must fight."

She spoke.

"We can all be friends."

I put it back.

"I want to sail away. I'll find a place in the colony. or in Tibet. After all, I owe my life to Anthony. Without him and your good ship I would be long dead. When he found me clinging to my makeshift raft, half mad with thirst, he found a man devoid of hope – an escaped prisoner whose desperation made him dare his captors and the element to seek his freedom near death. Nevertheless, I, too, have sailed across the world, but I have seen no wonders – unless the angry noonday sun, shriveling a man's shadow to a smudge beneath his feet, be a wonder. Or the greed and cruelty that forces a man to fight his own brother to the death for a crust of bread. Such "wonders" as these I have seen – and worse that I will not relate, for none could believe it. Not even me.

I turn. I hold up the biggest razor to the light as the music soars sweetly, ominously building. I should really stop comparing my current situation to my dream. I am suddenly gripped by a nests streak of madness. My scream of fear turns into the agonized roar. Both my body and his mind are now totally out of control. Then I stop. Mrs. Lovett is leaning against my shoulder, encouraging me. I convulsed more. I must fight.

Lucy came back.

"Okay, what did I miss?"

"Okay, let's go."

I grab the razor case. We head off.

A hand-drawn caravan, painted like a Sicilian donkey cart, stands on the street by St. Dunstan's Marketplace. On its side is written in ornate script "Signer Adolfo PIRELLI - Haircutter-Barber-Toothpuller to His Royal Majesty the King of Naples," and under this: "Banish Baldness with PIRELLI's Miracle Elixir. " Mrs. Lovett and I enter. I am carrying my razor case. Mrs. Lovett has a shopping basket. My wife carried her bowl.

Tobias, Pirelli's adolescent, simple-minded assistant, appears through a curtain at the rear of the caravan, beating on a tin drum. A factory whistle blows and a crowd of people comes running on, gathering around him.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Your attention per-lease. Have you seen cripples throw away their crutches? Heard dumb men speak? Seen dead men rise from out the ground and caper round the town? Well? If you have seen these things, then go about your business. For I have nothing new to tell you. But if you would behold a miracle – here, in this very square then stay and hearken. For I have seen death's dreadful tread averted, seen precious life burgeon from barren soil. I have seen this and touched it with these trembling hands. Here. On the top of my head."

Tobias doffs his cap dramatically, revealing mountains of hair

which cascade to his shoulders.

"T'was Pirelli's Miracle Elixer. Only costs a penny, guaranteed."

I stepped in line. When I got up to Tobias, he held the bottle over my head. I grabbed his arm.

"Okay."

I grabbed the bottle.

"This is ****"

I hand bottle back distastefully.

Soon, everyone turned on Tobias. The crowd closed in on him. He was backed into the caravan, on his back. The crowd grabbed him by his arrays. he screamed. arms flew. After a few minutes, he landed next to the door. Desperately, he yanks the curtain aside, revealing Pirelli, an excessively flamboyant Italian with a glittering suit, thick wavy hair and a daxtling smile - the crowd falls silent, stunned. Tobias collapses, exhausted.

"Talk to him!"

Pirelli bows and poses splendidly for a moment, in one hand an ornate razor, in the other a sinister-looking tooth-extractor.

I started.

I hold up the bottle of elixir.

"I am Mr. Sweeney Todd and I have opened a bottle of Pirelli's Elixir, and I say to you it is nothing but an arrant fraud, concocted from **** and ink." Mrs. Lovett takes the bottle from me, and sniffs it.

"He's right. Phew! Better to throw your money down the sewer."

She tosses the bottle to the ground. The onlookers "ooh" and "aah" with shocked excitement.

Tobias beat agitatedly on the drum, shouting "Ladies and gentlemen, pay no attention to that madman. Who's to be the first for a magnificent shave?"

I broke in. "And furthermore . . ." I glare at Pirelli. "I have serviced no kings, yet I wager that I can shave a cheek and pull a tooth with ten times more dexterity than any street mountebank!" I hold up his razor case for the crowd to see. You see these razors?"

Mrs. Lovett said "The finest in England."

I, to Pirelli, said "I lay them against five pounds you are no match for me. You hear me, sir? Either accept my challenge or reveal yourself as a sham."

"Bravo, bravo."

The crowd laughs and cheers, obviously on my side. Pirelli, as imposing as ever, holds up a hand for silence. Slowly he swaggers towardme, takes the razor case, opens it and examines the razors carefully.

He speaks with a fairly obvious put-on foreign accent, barely concealing an Irish underlay. "Zees are indeed fine razors. Instruments like zees once seen cannot be soon forgotten."

"I was hoping that you'd say that."

He raised an eyebrow, then took out a tooth-extractor. "And a fine extractor, too! You wager zees against five pounds, sir?"

"I do."

Addressing the crowd, "You hear zis foolish man? Watch and see how he will regret his folly. Five pounds it is!"

Surveying the crowd, I start, "Friends, neighbors, who's for a free shave?"

Two men stepped forward eagerly. "Over here. Bring me a chair."

I turn. "Will beadle Bamford be the judge?"

"Glad, as always, to oblige my friends and neighbors."

As another man comes on with a wooden chair and Tobias emerges from the caravan with basins, towels, etc., the beadle instantly takes over. To the volunteer, indicating where to set the chair. "Put it there." Th first man sits on my chair. The second man is ensconced on Pirelli's chair. Pirelli shakes out a fancy bib with a flourish and covers his volunteer. I take a towel and tuck it around his neck. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

I nod, "Ready!"

"The fastest, smoothest shave is the winner." He blows his whistle. The onlookers become agitated. The contest begins. Pirelli strops his razor quickly, I do so in a leisurely manner. Pirelli keeps glancing at me in various paranoid ways throughout, frightened of my progress. He starts whipping up lather rapidly.

He looks over shoulder, sees me still stropping slowly, gains confidence, starts to lather his man's face.

Unexpectedly, I still show no sign of starting to shave. I merely watch Pirelli 's performance. Pirelli, now feeling that he can take his time, shaves with rhythmic scrapes and elaborate gestures of wiping the razor.

I strop my razor slowly and deliberately, disconcerting Pirelli and drawing the crowd's attention.

He pulls down an elaborate chart with many anatomical views of the face and closeups of follicles, etc.

I start slowly mixing my lather.

As he finally gets carried away with the audience, I, with a few deft strokes, quickly lather the volunteer's face, shaves him and signals the beadle to examine the job.

Blowing whistle,

"The winner is Todd."

The crowd "oohs " and "ahhs ".

A tooth pulling contest ensued, with similar results.

Pirelli, still retaining his imposing dignity, moves over to me,

and, with profound bow, "Sir, I bow to a skill far defter than my own."

"The five pounds."

Pirelli produces a rather flamboyant purse, and from it takes five pounds, "Here, sir. And may the good Lord smile on you -" with a sinister smile.

"- until we meet again. Come, boy." Bows to crowd. "Signori! Bellissime signorini! Buon giorno! Buon giorno a tutti!"

I ran up to him. I whispered in his ear.

Kicking Tobias ahead of him, he returns to the caravan which Tobias, like a horse, pulls off.

"Who'd have thought it, dear! You pulled it off!" The crowd clusters around me.

The man with the cap said to me said "Oh, sir, Mr. TODD, sir, do you have an establishment of your own?"

"He certainly does. Sweeney Todd's Tonsorial Parlor - above my meat pie-shop on Fleet Street." The beadle strolls somewhat menacingly over to them.

"Mr. Todd. . . Strange, sir, but it seems your face is known to me."

Concealing agitation, "Him? That's a laugh him being my uncle's cousin and arrived from Birmingham yesterday."

Very smooth, I said, "But already, sir, I have heard beadle Bamford spoken of with great respect."

Whatever dim suspicions he may have had allayed by the flattery. "Well, sir, I try my best for my neighbors. Fleet Street? Over your pie-shop, ma'am?"

"That's it, sir."

"Then, Mr. Todd, you will surely see me there before the week is out."

Expressionless, I replied "That's great." Mrs. Lovett takes my arm, and I take Lucy's hand, and we start off.


	5. Chapter 5

It was all over. Now, once again, my life had no purpose. Only this time, I had brought it upon myself. I saw my Lucy, and despair filled my heart, for I know I shall never see her again.

"The wheel has come a full circle." I took out the razor, and I was disgusted and hopeless by my fit of vengeance.

"This blade has sliced through flesh of my flesh, stained my hands with blood as dear to me as that which is my own."

I hurled the razor away and knelt beside her, cradling her in my arms. A door opened distantly. I heard Tobias sing "simple simon" quietly to himself as he approached.

"The boy. Oh, now I do repent, and I will set him free."

I called for him. "Tobias! Come here to be. Don't be afraid."

Tobias emerged from the cellar, singing in an eerie voice. His hair had turned completely white. He was quite mad.

"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker man.

Bake me a cake -

No,no,?

Bake me a pie -

To delight my eye,

And I will sigh

If the crust be high ..."

Tobias saw me. "Mr. Todd."

I spoke to him. "Tobias, you are free. I'll not stop you."

Tobias noticed Lucy. "It's the old woman. Ya harmed her too, have ya? Ya shouldn't, ya know. Ya shouldn't harm nobody." Tobias came closer to her. "Ah! I gave her a ha'penny and she told me they weren't tasty." He laughed, and sang.

"Sing a song a ha'penny,

A pocket full of rye,

Four-and-twenty dead men

Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened

The men began to sing-

Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before a boy who never did no-one no harm in all his life."

This boy, oh, he could be saved, somehow, couldn't he? Why won't he leave? I wish I could start again, so this innocence could not be broken so soon, too soon, so wrong, so lost, and so, he must be saved.

I gently replied, "Tobias, you are free."

I looked back to my Lucy. I temporarily forgot that he was there. I would gladly die now, if I can't have her back, but I would more gladly die if I could have her back. I wish we could start again most of all, and we could start again.

Tobias bent to examine the body. I had forgotten him so quickly.

He then said, "Not tasty! Not tasty! Not tasty! Not tasty!"

Tobias then tried to grab her, he ran for her. I, suddenly aware of him, pushed him violently aside. "Leave her in peace. You shall not harm her, no!" I didn't care to hear. I cradled her in my arms again. My Lucy was gone. As Tobias staggered back and recovered his balance, he noticed the razor on the floor, picked it up, examined it, and played with it.

"Razor! Razor! Cut, cut, cut cadougan, watch me grind my corn."

He started to cut at me. I knew what was bound to happen. But I had no desire to fight it. But I wish that he could leave. Send the authorities after me, have them punish me, but this boy, this boy. I couldn't leave Lucy, though. I embraced my Lucy one last time.

"Pat him and prick him and mark him with B, and put him in the oven for baby and me!" Then I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I fell across the body of Lucy. I think I could hear a factory whistle blow. I could hear the sound of people approaching.

"No, no!"

Tobias ran off. Anthony, Johanna and officers of the guard came running on.

Johanna said to the guards, "The scream came from below. This should be the place."

The officers searched the cellars. Seeing the carnage, they all stopped.

Anthony saw me. "Oh, my friend! Who has done this?"

Anthony wrapped something from his sleeve around my neck, and Anthony and Johanna got me to my knees. "This should help," Anthony said.

I reached out my hand. "Anthony, forget all of this. I give you and my daughter my blessing, or whatever of a blessing I may have to offer."

Anthony and Johanna's eyes were filled with tears.

I reached for Lucy's hand with my last ounce of strength.

"Johanna, your mother loved you. I loved you too. But I wished the world away, giving up only my hope to get it back. Forgive me, Anthony."

Anthony's eyes were filled with tears. "There's nothing to forgive."

"Farewell, Anthony."

Johanna's eyes were filled with tears too. Anthony continued, "Mr. Todd, before we part-"

"What is it?"

He paused for a bit. Then, he asked me, "Who are you?"

I turned to Johanna. "The judge Turpin never told you what happened to your father."

Johanna replied, "I was told that he was transported, and never returned."

"No. I am your father."

Johanna and Anthony knelt by me.

Johanna, your name is not Johanna Oakley. Your name is Johanna Barker."

"What?" Johanna asked me.

"Johanna this is your mother. Lucy."

We heard a clash. I told them. " My name is Benjamin Barker."

A officer said, "And here's another. Why it's- judge Turpin!"

Johanna nodded. They started to go towards the officers. I stood and tried to walk, or run towards them. They looked over at me. "Johanna, I..."

I swooned, almost fainting. Anthony ran to catch my shoulder.

Another clashing noise. Tobias ran back in. Tobias signaled to the guards. "Keep off! They're mine, mine!"

The guard faced him. "What are?"

"The pies, the pies! They're mine!"

The guard stepped forward. "I'll not steal them."

Tobias looked at him. "No! No, for what I have to tell will, I fear, quite spoil your appetite. Mrs. Lovett's pies are made from human flesh." He took a hand from the floor. "Look!" Tobias said, laughing, and started to eat it. I yelled. "Toby!" Everyone turned to me. Toby walked over too me. "Toby..." I reached for him. "Toby... Please. Toby... This is no place for you. Toby, get out of here. Toby, you can go now. Find a new home... Maybe Johanna will look after you till you get better, and grow up. You're still so young. Life has been hard for you, your parents are gone, but get out, and life may once more smile on your enterprises, but you must get out. Toby... There is another way out. There must be... there must be..." Toby looked at me a moment, and some color returned to his cheeks for a moment. Toby's eyes were watering, and he was shaking. He wanted to trust me then, but he did not trust me then, and he struggled to once more become some thing more than alive, find the fresh air that he once breathed, and be better again. Yet as the cops circled around us once more, that color faded again in a cry, and he was once more with the rest of us. "Toby..." He pulled the bandage away from my neck. I grabbed my neck. I felt the pain a little less now.

Anthony turned, "The boy's mad."

The guard replied, "And dangerous, too." The guard beckoned Tobias, "Boy come with us."

Tobias said to the guard, "You will pardon me, gentlemen, but you may not enter here. Oh no! Me mistress don't let no one enter here, for, you see, sirs, there's work to be done, so much work. No, I have work to do. I must mince the meat. " Tobias indicated me and Lucy.

They approached him. While they watched in horror, he moved to the grinding machine and slowly started to turn the handle. "Three times. That's the secret. Three times through for them to be tender and juicy. Three times through the grinder. Smoothly, smoothly ..."

Anthony told the guards, "Take him away!"

The guard replied, "We will, sir. And question him to find the truth."

Johanna gives a little cry. Anthony threw his arm around her. As the group stands watching, still in silence, Tobias continued to grind. Suddenly, the trap door slapped shut; the light brightened abruptly, Tobias stepped back, and looked up. . .

I fell to my knees.

"Anthony. Johanna. Tobias. Come to me."

They came over. I went back and carried Lucy over, cradling her in my arms.

"Lucy, Lucy. Let her have a proper burial, please. The judge is dead, nothing stands between the two of you. Johanna... and you are beautiful and pale, with yellow hair, like her. Good bye, Johanna."

She said, "You're gone, and yet you're mine."

I replied, "I'm fine, Johanna, I'm fine... We learn to say... Goodbye."

"Goodbye, my dad."

I said, "Marry each other, go aboard the ship, and leave this all, far behind you. Let the boy go, they were not his victims. Just take care of my beautiful Lucy. You must understand. There was a barber and his wife,

And she was beautiful.

A foolish barber and his wife.

She was his reason and his life,

And she was beautiful.

And she was virtuous.

And he was...

Naive."

Water erupted from my lungs. I was soaked. Everything faded away... I had one last look. Anthony, and another face about the same age. Toby shot them a long, lost, look. He stepped back. Anthony walked over to me. I looked at his face, holding close to me my Johanna. Everything went dark, fading away. Rippling shades of purple and green floated across my eyes. I opened my eyes. I was lying on the wooden deck of a boat, the bright sky above me. Someone had their hands on my shoulders. I looked into the eyes of Anthony Hope. "He's alive!" He said, "I thought he had drowned. Are you feeling okay sir?" This was so bizarre. Was I Dorothy Gale or Ebenezer Scrooge? I knew now what I must do. My what I have gone through, and he was there. He continued "My name is Anthony..." I interrupted him, "My, Anthony, there's no place like London!"


End file.
